Your Favourite Female Band Member (27 of 30)

Noodle. No doubt about it. I can't explain why, she just is.

Gorillaz - El Mañana

A Band You'd Love To Be In (15 of 30)

Of course I'd want to be in Gorillaz. Everyone loves Gorillaz, plus I'd get to be an awesome-looking cartoon character. What's not to like?

5 Songs: P

Sleeping With Sirens - Postcards And Polaroids

Of Mice & Men - Product Of A Murderer

You Me At Six - Playing The Blame Game

Gorillaz - Punk

The Smiths - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

Summery Tunes

Because it's summer, and I thought maybe you'd want some suggestions for happy songs to listen to while you lie in the grass and hold cats and drink beer and run screaming from the wasps. You know, barbecue-y, party-ish songs. Stuff to chill out to, while it's still safe to go outside.

MGMT - Electric Feel

Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Bob Marley - Is This Love

Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream

Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of A Bay

My Chemical Romance - Summertime

Sleeping With Sirens - All My Heart

Panic! At The Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)

Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun

Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World

All Time Low - Six Feet Under The Stars (Acoustic)

Without A Face - Stung

5 Songs: F

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words

Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent

The Cure - Fascination Street

You Me At Six - Fireworks

5 Songs: E

Black Cards - End Of Pretend

MGMT - Electric Feel

Gorillaz feat. Little Dragon - Empire Ants

My Chemical Romance - Early Sunsets Over Monroeville

Green Day - East Jesus Nowhere

Soundtrack To My Youth

I wasn't feeling especially nostalgic, but I thought it would be mildly interesting, to me at least, to look at the various songs I remember from growing up.

Blur - Song 2
This is one of the first songs I remember full-stop, and it's the first song I remember liking; it was my favourite song when I was about four. Still pretty awesome now.

Sugababes - Round Round
I was mad into Sugababes back in their Mutya+Keisha+Heidi phase (I wasn't old enough to properly experience the original one). I still have their Angels With Dirty Faces album, it's brilliant.

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
I remember seeing the video for this on television when I was about six, and I loved the song for years before I knew the name or who it was by, and it's because of this song that I got into Gorillaz in the first place.

Busta Rhymes feat. Mariah Carey - I Know What You Want
Do not ask why because I really don't know, but when I was about six or seven I really loved Busta Rhymes, and I remember making my mum play this tape of his stuff while we were out in her car.

Busted - Air Hostess
Busted. Everybody's childhood favourite band. I think one of my first crushes was on the guy that's not got the black hair or the massive eyebrows. Another of my nostalgia albums is A Present For Everyone, I've never been able to throw it out.

Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again
This sonnggg. I also loved Britney Spears years ago, I had her album with this on it.

Hard-Fi - Living For The Weekend
This is from when I was about nine. I remember this because I got their Stars Of CCTV album off my dad for some reason, and I listened to it all day on repeat for about three weeks straight. This was at the same time as I was reading Jaws, so now this song reminds me of sharks and violent deaths.

Happy 100th Post!

I am celebrating this because, not only is it an anniversary, it's a testament to my concentration. There's very little I can keep up with that takes as much effort as this blog does, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. So, to celebrate, we're having an internet party. To have a party, you need music. Because it's my party, we're having my music. I was going to do my top 100 songs ever, but that would just be me linking you to the My Chemical Romance back catalogue. I want to be a bit fairer than that, and also stick to something I'm actually capable of finishing. So what I'm doing here for our little party is an A to Z (zed, not zee, we're British here) of artists, and an awesome song by each. Not necessarily my favourite song, because you see enough of those, but other songs they've done that I also think are great. That way it's fair on the bands, and we get a little bit of variety in here. I'll also stick them in a youtube playlist if, for some bizarre reason, you want to hear them all at once.

A - All Time Low - Remembering Sunday
I'm still sort of going through the initial 'wow' phase of liking All Time Low, so I haven't settled on a favourite song yet, but at the moment I'm really liking this one. I'm learning it on guitar, too.

B - Bring Me The Horizon - Hospital For Souls
One of the best tracks off Sempiternal. You'd be able to feel the flames even if they weren't mentioned in the chorus.

C - The Cribs - I'm A Realist
I just really love the guitars in this, and the lyrics. Yeah . . .

D - Deaf Havana - Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life
This is the first song by Deaf Havana that I heard, and it's the song that convinced me to keep listening.

E - Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Everybody knows this one. I remember seeing this one all the time on MTV when I was about seven. It also belongs on the soundtrack to my youth.

F - Fall Out Boy - Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy)
It's such an emo song, but it's also awesome, and one of my favourites by the band.

G - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
This was my favourite song from the age of about 9 until I discovered My Chemical Romance. Although apparently the bass is actually synth (broke my heart), still . . . baaasssss . . .

H- Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi
Because we needed a bit of J-rock in this playlist.

I - Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
I was struggling to find an artist for this letter, but I really like this song, so there you go.

J - Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Big Pimpin'/Papercut
I am just marvelling that this actually works, and why this happened in the first place.

K - The Killers - Mr Brightside
I don't even know why I'm writing an explanation for this one, because it really doesn't need any. Everybody loves this song. Everything loves this song. Play it in a laboratory and use an electron microscope, you'll see viruses dancing and singing along. It is science.

L - Lostalone - Do You Get What You Pray For?
This song is so badasssss, I remember why I was listening to them all the time last year.

M - My Chemical Romance - The Kids From Yesterday
I couldn't really decide for this one, because I love every single MCR track. But I decided this one because it was a perfect ending song to Danger Days, the prologue that is Vampire Money notwithstanding, and seeing as Danger Days was the last proper album of new material that they released, a perfect end to their career as a band.

N - New Order - Blue Monday
I don't even know.

O - Of Mice And Men - They Don't Call It The South For Nothing
I SAID I'D FIGHT BACK. I DIDN'T SAY THAT I'D FIGHT FAIR.

P - Pierce The Veil - Currents Convulsive
Most people forget about the other songs on A Flair For The Dramatic because of Chemical Kids . . . and Yeah Boy . . . but this track's possibly my favourite on the whole album, and really needs more attention from people.

Q - Queens Of The Stone Age - Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
I don't listen to QOTSA much, but I like this one. It's the guitars at the beginning.

R - Rise Against - Make It Stop (September's Children)
The song's awesome, and the video is really emotive about bullying. It makes me want to hunt people down and fight them.

S - Sleeping With Sirens - With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear
LIAAAARR YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR SSIIIINNNSSSS

T - Taking Back Sunday - Make Damn Sure
One of the first TBS songs I heard, while I was working in this shop, and it's what made me look them up properly.

U - The Used - The Bird And The Worm
I just love the contrast between the creepy little verses and the massive chorus.

V - The Vaccines - Post Break-Up Sex
I dunno, man, I just like this one.

W - Without A Face - Republicratic Gang
This was another difficult one, because all of WAF's songs are great. But I've put this one because it's off his amazing Oh, Great, An Election EP, which came before the even better American Scheme album. It's the first I've seen of WAF suddenly getting very cynical and political, and he does it very well. The video's also great.

X - Xiaolin Showdown Theme
Not going to lie, I struggled to find anything for X, but then I remembered this, and really . . . it's my favourite thing beginning with X.

Y - You Me At Six - Crash
I'd heard other You Me At Six songs before this, but this is the one that really got me into them. There's so much emotion in it.

Z - The Zutons - Valerie
We wouldn't have the Amy Winehouse version if it wasn't for this, and the original's not that bad anyway.

Songs For Dark Times

I wasn't really feeling like posting today. I just kind of wanted to tune everything out, turn the thoughts in my head into white noise and then just sleep for a few days, y'know? But the thing is that I committed myself to doing this properly, to show that I can keep doing it. It's also really not a good idea to just lie there thinking about how bad you feel, it's just a vicious cycle of self-hatred. So I thought; "why not do something productive with this? There's loads of people out there who feel like this, and we can maybe do a little bit to help them pass the time."
I will do this in the form of music. Music for when you feel like there's nothing there, or when you feel like everything's there and it's stampeding in through your eyes and ears and stabbing your brain and it's too much. Music to make you feel better, or at least to give you some respite from feeling at all, without resorting to unhealthy methods. Or at least, that's what I hope it'll do. It's going to start off pretty dark, anyway.
I'll give you fair warning; this is going to contain My Chemical Romance songs.

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
I don't know why I want to start with this one really. I suppose it just kind of sets the mood. Very gloomy, but also sparkly, which is good.

My Chemical Romance - I Never Told You What I Do For A Living
It's a song that I really under-appreciated for a while, because it's the very last song on the Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge album. But I really love it. It's just all this blood and anger, it's like a murderous rampage - and it's got awesome lyrics; "Another knife in my hands, a stain that never comes off the sheets, clean me off, I'm so dirty babe, it ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame, it's for the bodies I claim and lose". Gerard's vocals are so distressed and raw on this, I just jf;lfja;ldjfa;ljfasdl

The Blackout - Hard Slammin'
I have this habit of skipping most of the songs on an album, so it took me ages before I found this one - I think it crept up on me while I was listening to my iPod one day. I am very glad that this happened, because this is an amazing song and really makes me wish I knew how to scream (pretty much all of Sean Smith's vocals make me wish I knew how to scream really, he's amazing at it). Plus I love the breakdown bit in the middle, with erm . . . with the screaming. Yeah.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Time for a little respite from the furious songs from before; a bit of time to get your breath back and just releeeaasseeee the tensssioonnnn. It's working on me, at least. This is a brilliant song, as all Gorillaz songs are (I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like Gorillaz). It's sort of a bit sad, but also really chilled and a little bit romantic, lyrics-wise. And also, you think that maybe the manatee is a metaphor for something in the lyrics, but then the video's like ". . . no, there's a big hill and it's got a fuckin' huge manatee on it".

Pierce The Veil - Hold On Till May (feat. Lindsey Stamey)
I have a lot of love for this song. It's pulled me back from some bad places on quite a lot of occasions, not only because it sounds so beautiful, but it actually means something. Vic's said in the past that it's about a friend of his who was neglected by her parents, so to see if they cared she used to do crazy stuff like climbing really high up trees to see how long it took them to notice she was gone, and it stayed with her for life. You may not have been neglected by your parents, but you can feel abandoned by a lot of different people. I like it because of the sort of dialogue part; "If I were you, I'd put that away - see you're just wasted and thinking about the past again, darling you'll be ok." "If you were me, you'd do the same. 'Cause I can't take any more, I'll draw the shades and close the door, everything's not alright, and I would rather . . .". It's not just doing the 'it gets better routine', it's speaking from the other side as well, the hurt and confused side.

My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
Skip this one if you're still a bit sore. I am, too, but I think what we need to remember here is that, like they said, the message of the band lives on. They saved your lives before, and they can do it again. Just listen to the message in the songs. That's why I love this one. It's not cheerful, by any means, it's written from inside a very dark place. But it's still defiant. It's that feeling of down-but-not-out, that as hurt and dark and shitty as you may feel, it's not over and you will go out kicking and screaming if you have to.

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once
THIS IS THE TRUE FUCKING MEANING OF YOLO.
Get back into fighting mode, thrash about to this, it's amazing and it makes me swear very loudly. Despite what you might think because of your preconcieved notions about bands with names like 'Suicide Silence', this is actually a pretty motivational song - "Live life hard, you only get one shot, so shoot!" - with the most amazing start I have ever heard in my life. Plus, there is the message of the singer, the late legend Mitch Lucker himself; "Keep listening to music, 'cause it gets you through everything, I promise". So there you go. You only live once, so just go fucking nuts.

Sleeping With Sirens - Do It Now, Remember It Later
It's a nice happy/angry song (I like angry songs) about doing . . . whatever you want, screw the consequences and screw the opinions of others, because you should do what makes you happy, regardless of what other people think is cool (unless you're hurting someone without their prior consent or taking advantage of someone). Get up and dance and sing, bitches.

My Chemical Romance - Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
I Don't Even Care It's My Blog And If I Want To Post Loads Of MCR I Can (Stop Typing With Your Arse Because I Don't Care About Your Shitty Opinions). That's Fall Out Boy's next song, and I co-wrote it. Anyway, I love this one because it's all rock'n'roll and shouty and get-out-of-my-way-I've-got-a-laser-gun-and-I'm-wearing-rainbow-pants. See what an improvement it's made? An hour ago I was seeing in black and white, except mostly black.

So that's my attempt to try and make you feel better if you're feeling low. It's worked on me, definitely. It might not make you feel on top of the world, but I hope it at least gives you a short rest from the inside of your head.

Reaallllyyy Relaaaaxxxxinnggg Songs.

Because everybody's stressed at the moment. Exams are coming from every angle, teachers know that and are subsequently attacking everyone who's not going to make them look good this summer. Not fun. Especially not fun if, like me, you're a perfectionist and very easily stressed, which is why I've decided to post some of the songs I find really relaxing (hence the title), because sometimes stuff like Product of a Murderer is not what you need to hear to put you in a positive frame of mind, no matter how much I may like the song.

Gorillaz - Hong Kong
It's on one of their earlier, smaller albums, and I don't remember when I first heard it properly because I kept skipping it, but it's beautiful. Reminds me of grass and dirt and stuff.

Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
This guy is so chilled out. Just sitting there all day watching ships and boats. He is so chilled he has nothing else to do all day. Was he unemployed at the time? He's definitely more chilled than me, I could only look at a boat for about as long as this song lasts, but that really saying something on how relaxing this song is, because I normally can't look at boats at all.

Of Mice And Men - When You Can't Sleep At Night
I really wasn't expecting this the first time I heard it, given what the rest of OM&M's discography is like. You go all the way through The Flood and it's all fury and anger and punching walls, and then there's this beautiful calm one at the end.

Compay Segundo - Guantanamera
Latin music is actually awesome, and it's always relaxed, even when it's not. This is especially so, despite being about a woman from an area of Cuba currently controlled by the USA, even though they don't need it.

Rise Against - Swing Life Away
I like Rise Against, but sometimes the whole WE ARE VERY ANGRY ABOUT POLITICS thing gets a bit boring, even for me, and I'm always angry about politics. So this one's good, because not only is it relaxing, it's just about erm . . . swinging life away (swing your pants?)